A new recovery program for abdominal surgery patients at University of Virginia Health System is helping patients go home sooner while making them more comfortable both before and after surgery.
Despite major efforts to keep operating rooms sterile, surgical wound infections remain a serious and stubborn problem, killing up to 8,200 patients a year in the U.S. Columbia University Medical Center research published in PLOS ONE suggests that narrow-spectrum UV light could dramatically reduce such infections without damaging human tissue.
A study designed to compare cure rates, postoperative pain, cosmetic satisfaction, and length of the procedure and of the hospital stay for patients with hyperparathyroidism who underwent BNE versus minimally invasive video-assisted (MIVAP) parathyroidectomy.
Review of cases spanning more than 12 years found that nearly a third of patients with DTC and neck metastases would not have had adequate operations if the surgeons had relied on pre-referral imaging studies and had not performed US themselves.
A team of engineers and doctors has developed a new wireless capsule that can give surgeons back their sense of touch when performing minimally invasive surgery.
Breast cancer patients who received the combination of a nerve block with general anesthesia for their breast cancer surgery had less cancer recurrence and were three times less likely to die than those who received only general anesthesia, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ annual meeting. Additionally, patients who received the nerve block needed less opioid pain relief from drugs such as fentanyl and oxycodone.
Complications in the recovery room decreased by 58 percent between 1990 and 2010, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting. In a previous study completed in the late 1980s, recovery room complications occurred in 23.7 percent of the patients. Today, the complication rate is 9.9 percent. The study also found that less-healthy patients are more prone to recovery room complications.
Late starts to the first surgical case of the day can be improved, according to two studies presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting. Improving efficiency potentially reduces costs, increases patient and staff satisfaction, and increases the number of cases that can be performed daily.
Elderly surgical patients are more likely to suffer from debilitating post-operative delirium if they have diabetes, undergo longer surgery or respond poorly to stress, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting.
Researchers have identified hundreds of variants in a patient’s DNA sequence or genetic code that predict which military service members are more likely to develop persistent, chronic pain after amputation, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting.
Ninety-seven percent of bariatric surgery patients avoided post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) with the addition of a second drug to the standard treatment given during surgery, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting.
Simple remedies – from keeping the antibacterial gel dispenser clean to giving health care workers their own hand sanitizer – can help keep patients safe by decreasing contamination in operating and recovery rooms, suggest two studies presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting.
Before and after spinal surgery, patients on a polyamine-deficient diets experienced significant relief of both chronic and acute pain, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting.
The incidence of chronic pain following cardiac surgery can be reduced in patients when the drug pregabalin is used before surgery and for 14 days post-surgery, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting. The study also found that patients at risk of developing long-term post-operative persistent pain can be predicted by conducting pain sensitivity tests at the time of surgery.
Long-term memory loss, difficulty understanding verbal or written communication or impaired ability to pay attention may still occur five years after heart surgery if a patient has a certain gene variation, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting. This gene was found to be related to a decline in cognitive capabilities compared to those who do not have the variation.
Using intravenous (IV) acetaminophen with narcotics provides more effective pain relief to children having tonsillectomies, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 annual meeting. Additionally, the combination therapy saves costs due to reduced use of narcotics after surgery, reduced side effects and slightly quicker hospital discharge than in patients who receive narcotics alone.
Video ratings data of bariatric surgeons’ operating skills successfully predicted whether patients would suffer complications after surgery.
A Mayo Clinic study looked at one of those -- cataract surgery-- and found that more people are getting the vision-improving procedure, seeking it at younger ages and having both eyes repaired within a few months, rather than only treating one eye.
Most patients whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes have most of the lymph nodes in their armpit area removed after chemotherapy to determine if any cancer remains. A study conducted through the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group and led by Judy Boughey, M.D., a breast surgeon at Mayo Clinic, shows that a less-invasive procedure known as sentinel lymph node surgery successfully identified whether cancer remained in lymph nodes in 91 percent of patients with node-positive breast cancer who received chemotherapy before their surgery. In sentinel lymph node surgery, only a few lymph nodes, the ones most likely to contain cancer, are removed. The findings are published online in the Journal of American Medical Association.
Surgeons at UC San Diego Health System have performed the region’s first robotic gastrectomy, a potentially lifesaving procedure to remove a section of the stomach after a diagnosis of gastric cancer.
A conservative approach to removing lymph nodes is associated with less harm for breast cancer patients and often yields the same results as more radical procedures, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
A telestroke service increases the rate of effective tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) therapy for patients with acute ischemic stroke treated at community hospitals, according to a report in the October issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
A new study released today shows that among patients undergoing surgery for chronic wounds related to diabetes, the risk of wound-related complications is affected by how well the patient's blood sugar levels are controlled before surgery. These findings appear in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Body contouring surgery to remove excess skin improves long-term weight control in patients after gastric bypass surgery, reports a study in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Patients with aortic stenosis who are ineligible for surgical valve replacement as well as the traditional approach to transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) may have comparable outcomes when the surgeon uses an alternative access TAVR approach.
Patients receiving statin therapy before coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery appear to have a reduced risk of post-surgical mortality, stroke, and atrial fibrillation (irregular or rapid heart rate)
The total hospital cost of mitral valve repair surgery -- from the time a patient is admitted to the hospital until release --is similar, whether performed through small port incisions using robotic equipment or via the conventional open-chest method, a Mayo Clinic study of 370 patients found. Importantly, robotic surgeries were just as safe as conventional open procedures, but patients who underwent robotic mitral valve repair recovered more rapidly and returned home earlier than patients who had open-chest surgery, the study found. The results of the study also reflect systems innovation efforts designed to reduce the cost of high-technology cardiac care. The findings will be published online Oct. 1 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
In a new paper published early online by the Annals of Surgery, physician-researchers at University Hospitals Case Medical Center describe a new tool called the HARM score that reliably measures quality and clinical outcomes for colon and rectal surgery patients. The name of the tool reflects the data sources used to calculate the score: HospitAl stay, Readmission rate, and Mortality. The paper demonstrates a strong correlation between the HARM score, and the quality of clinical outcomes achieved by surgeons and hospitals for patients having major abdominal surgery.
Millions of people with scars suffer from pain, discomfort, and inability to perform regular activities. Some may have to revert to addicting pain medicine to get rid of their ailments. Now, and with a new methodology, such problems can be treated successfully. A technique using injection of the patient's own fat cells is an effective treatment for hard, contracted scars resulting from burns or other causes, reports a study in the September issue of The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, edited by Mutaz B. Habal, MD, FRCSC, and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
A new laser at the University of Nebraska Medical Center - one of only two in the world -- can help prevent blindness in patients with diabetes and retinal eye diseases.
Having the right tool to estimate surgical risk in patients at high risk for complications and death during and after surgery is crucially important, according to a study in the October issue of Anesthesiology.
In a world-first, decompression surgery has been shown to be an effective procedure to treat cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) – a common progressive, degenerative disease of the spine that can lead to paralysis – according to the results of a multi-centre clinical trial published today.
On Tuesday, September 17, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, will publish a novel technique for imaging muscle function while in motion. Research in this area could uncover the root of musculoskeletal disorders, such as the development of osteoarthritis following ACL surgery.
Geisinger researchers have developed a simple scoring system (DiaRem), based on four readily available preoperative patient characteristics, that can predict which candidates for gastric bypass surgery are likely to achieve Type 2 diabetes remission within 5 years. A predictive model is likely to help patients and clinicians better manage the disease and could even save lives.
Neurosurgeons at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found MRI-guided laser ablation to be an effective therapy for certain epilepsy patients.
New study finds a decline in the number of minority patients with Medicare receiving bariatric surgery after the Medicare Center of Excellence Policy was implemented.
Nearly 80 percent of trauma centers in the United States that serve predominantly minority patients have higher-than-expected death rates, according to new Johns Hopkins research. Moreover, the research shows, trauma patients of all races are 40 percent less likely to die — regardless of the severity of their injuries — if they are treated at hospitals with lower-than-expected mortality rates, the vast majority of which serve predominantly white patients.
Nearly one in five older adults who have common operations will end up in the emergency department within a month of their hospital stay, a new study finds – a surprisingly high number found in the first national look at the issue.
Patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) appear to be at increased risk of benign tumors—but not cancers, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
NIBIB-funded scientists and engineers are teaming up with neurosurgeons to develop technologies that enable less invasive, image-guided removal of hard-to-reach brain tumors. Their technologies combine novel imaging techniques that allow surgeons to see deep within the brain during surgery with robotic systems that enhance the precision of tissue removal.
A Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center study shows that the use of MRI before or immediately after surgery in women with DCIS was not associated with reduced local recurrence or contralateral breast cancer rates.
A new laser-based technology may make brain tumor surgery much more accurate, allowing surgeons to tell cancer tissue from normal brain at the microscopic level while they are operating, and avoid leaving behind cells that could spawn a new tumor.
Despite widespread adoption by hospitals of surgical robot technology over the past decade, a “slapdash” system of reporting complications paints an unclear picture of its safety, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.
Retrograde access gives surgeons the ability to go through the foot to open up blocked arteries and save the limbs of people whose only other option is amputation.
For older adults undergoing surgery for spinal stenosis, some simple indicators of poor preoperative health predict a high risk of major medical complications, reports a study in the September 1 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
For patients undergoing plastic and reconstructive surgery procedures, obesity, anemia and postoperative complications—especially surgical and wound complications—are independent risk factors for hospital readmission, reports a study in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Virtual surgical planning technologies give surgeons a powerful new tool for their most challenging facial reconstruction cases, reports a paper in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Using wireless technology may speed patients’ postoperative recovery following heart surgery and improve post-discharge outcomes
A Wayne State University researcher’s innovative use of a new tool may make surgery a more viable option for sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).
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